Difference between revisions of "Horst-Wessel-Lied"

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Wessel was murdered in February 1930, and was declared a martyr to the Nazi movement. The Horst Wessel Song was first sung publicly at his funeral and became very popular at Nazi gatherings.
 
Wessel was murdered in February 1930, and was declared a martyr to the Nazi movement. The Horst Wessel Song was first sung publicly at his funeral and became very popular at Nazi gatherings.
  
This popularity ensured that the song would forever be ascribed to Wessel, however, German critics maintained that the melody of the song preexisted Wessel's publication by many years.
+
This popularity ensured that the song would forever be ascribed to Wessel, however, German critics maintained that the melody of the song preexisted Wessel's publication by many years (and he is only the author of the words of this song).
  
 
However, all criticism stopped on May 19, 1933, when Adolf Hitler declared Horst-Wessel-Lied to be recognized as a national symbol of Germany and the Nazi Party, and questioning of Wessel's authorship became treason.
 
However, all criticism stopped on May 19, 1933, when Adolf Hitler declared Horst-Wessel-Lied to be recognized as a national symbol of Germany and the Nazi Party, and questioning of Wessel's authorship became treason.

Revision as of 02:04, 22 February 2015

Horst-Wessel-Lied
Composer Horst Wessel
Released 1929-09-??
Title Origin Official

Horst-Wessel-Lied is German for "Horst Wessel Song". It is also sometimes referred to as "Die Fahne hoch" ("The Flag Up High"). The song was the anthem of the Nazi Party from 1930 to 1945.

Wessel was murdered in February 1930, and was declared a martyr to the Nazi movement. The Horst Wessel Song was first sung publicly at his funeral and became very popular at Nazi gatherings.

This popularity ensured that the song would forever be ascribed to Wessel, however, German critics maintained that the melody of the song preexisted Wessel's publication by many years (and he is only the author of the words of this song).

However, all criticism stopped on May 19, 1933, when Adolf Hitler declared Horst-Wessel-Lied to be recognized as a national symbol of Germany and the Nazi Party, and questioning of Wessel's authorship became treason.

When the Nazi regime fell in 1945, the Horst-Wessel-Lied was banned in both Germany and Austria, except for educational purposes.

Games

Released

Game

Arranger

Length

Format

Listen

1992-05-05 Wolfenstein 3D (DOS) Bobby Prince 0:57 IMF
1994-10-?? Wolfenstein 3D (ACOR) Unknown UNK
[[File:|-]]
2001-11-19 Return to Castle Wolfenstein (W32) 0:43 WAV
2002-??-?? Wolfenstein 3D (GBA) Bobby Prince MINIGSF
2008-04-19 Voxelstein 3D (W32) Bobby Prince 0:57 IMF N/A
2012-06-10 Wolfram (W32) Bobby Prince OGG
2013-??-?? Wolfenstein 3D (AND) Bobby Prince 0:57 IMF
2014-??-?? Wolfenstein 3D (GEN) GASEGA98K 0:56 VGM


Wolfenstein 3D (DOS)

In Wolfenstein 3D (DOS), the song plays as soon as the game boots up and all through the title screen. Bobby Prince arranged the song using Sequencer Plus Gold. It is song #8 in the data files, and its IMF meta data title is "NAZI-NOR".

Wolfenstein 3D - DOS - 1.png

Return to Castle Wolfenstein (W32)

This music is playing from gramophones in some places of the game. This game even contains the first quatrein without the refrain, thanks to digital WAV file extesion. Maybe, because nazi soldiers didn't have more modern and longer wax for 1943 year? However, this variant is looping. Unfortunatelly, the authors didn't arrangered the second and the third quatreins.

In-game file is placed in one of the subfolders of the game and called "cafemusic.wav".

Voxelstein 3D (W32)

In this game, Horst-Wessel-Lied is in shareware release of Wolfenstein 3D (DOS), zipped with another game files for music and sounds. But, since game use only 2 tracks of 11 - Searching For the Enemy and End of Level, this song is unused. Content and format are the same with Wolfenstein 3D (DOS).

Lyrics

Although most of the games doesn't feature the lyrics to this song, they do exist. Various amendments have been made to the lyrics since Horst Wessel's death, but the original lyrics are as follows:

German

Die Fahne hoch! Die Reihen fest geschlossen!
SA marschiert mit ruhig, festem Schritt.
Kam'raden, die Rotfront und Reaktion erschossen,
Marschier'n im Geist in unser'n Reihen mit.

Die Straße frei den braunen Batallionen.
Die Straße frei dem Sturmabteilungsmann!
Es schau'n aufs Hakenkreuz voll Hoffnung schon Millionen.
Der Tag für Freiheit und für Brot bricht an!

Zum letzten Mal wird schon Appell geblasen!
Zum Kampfe steh'n wir alle schon bereit!
Bald flattern Hitlerfahnen über alle Straßen.
Die Knechtschaft dauert nur mehr kurze Zeit!

Die Fahne hoch! Die Reihen fest geschlossen!
SA marschiert mit ruhig-festem Schritt.
Kameraden, die Rotfront und Reaktion erschossen,
Marschieren im Geist in unseren Reihen mit.

English translation

The flag high! The ranks tightly closed!
SA march with calm, firm steps.
Comrades shot by the Red Front and reactionaries
March in spirit in our ranks.

Clear the streets for the brown battalions,
Clear the streets for the stormtroopers!
Already millions look with hope to the swastika
The day of freedom and bread is dawning!

Roll call has sounded for the last time
We are all already prepared for the fight!
Soon Hitler's flag will fly over all streets.
Our servitude will soon end!

The flag high! The ranks tightly closed!
SA marches with a calm, firm pace.
Comrades shot by the Red Front and reactionaries
March in spirit in our ranks. 

Links